Some politics is local: the determinants of engagement in local and national politics across Europe
Understanding the roots of political engagement has been one of the critical tasks performed by students of comparative political behaviour. This paper adds to the literature by examining the determinants of political discussion about local and national affairs in Europe. A series of multilevel logi...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Firenze University Press
2020-07-01
|
| Series: | QOE-IJES |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://oaj.fupress.net/index.php/qoe/article/view/9530 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849431988969144320 |
|---|---|
| author | João Cancela |
| author_facet | João Cancela |
| author_sort | João Cancela |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Understanding the roots of political engagement has been one of the critical tasks performed by students of comparative political behaviour. This paper adds to the literature by examining the determinants of political discussion about local and national affairs in Europe. A series of multilevel logit models are fitted to the data (n = 28,563 from 31 European countries) to test the individual and country level determinants of political discussion about local and national matters. At the individual level, we find that gender, the type of community, the type of civil society organisations people are members of, and their level of education affect the type of politics they engage with. At the macro level, citizens from countries with a higher economic development are more likely to engage in discussions about national affairs, while the impact of local government autonomy does not seem to make individuals more likely to engage in discussions about local politics. The findings suggest that if local politics is considered the share of politically disengaged citizens can be smaller than is typically estimated. The full range of democratic practice may thus remain underappreciated if non-national politics is left out of the picture in the study of political engagement.
|
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-9b7d00c376204459abb7af12dd56f41b |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0392-6753 2724-4679 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2020-07-01 |
| publisher | Firenze University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | QOE-IJES |
| spelling | doaj-art-9b7d00c376204459abb7af12dd56f41b2025-08-20T03:27:28ZengFirenze University PressQOE-IJES0392-67532724-46792020-07-0183110.36253/qoe-9530Some politics is local: the determinants of engagement in local and national politics across EuropeJoão Cancela0Department of Political Studies, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, PortugalUnderstanding the roots of political engagement has been one of the critical tasks performed by students of comparative political behaviour. This paper adds to the literature by examining the determinants of political discussion about local and national affairs in Europe. A series of multilevel logit models are fitted to the data (n = 28,563 from 31 European countries) to test the individual and country level determinants of political discussion about local and national matters. At the individual level, we find that gender, the type of community, the type of civil society organisations people are members of, and their level of education affect the type of politics they engage with. At the macro level, citizens from countries with a higher economic development are more likely to engage in discussions about national affairs, while the impact of local government autonomy does not seem to make individuals more likely to engage in discussions about local politics. The findings suggest that if local politics is considered the share of politically disengaged citizens can be smaller than is typically estimated. The full range of democratic practice may thus remain underappreciated if non-national politics is left out of the picture in the study of political engagement. https://oaj.fupress.net/index.php/qoe/article/view/9530Political engagementpolitical discussionlocal politicsgeographical scaleEurope |
| spellingShingle | João Cancela Some politics is local: the determinants of engagement in local and national politics across Europe QOE-IJES Political engagement political discussion local politics geographical scale Europe |
| title | Some politics is local: the determinants of engagement in local and national politics across Europe |
| title_full | Some politics is local: the determinants of engagement in local and national politics across Europe |
| title_fullStr | Some politics is local: the determinants of engagement in local and national politics across Europe |
| title_full_unstemmed | Some politics is local: the determinants of engagement in local and national politics across Europe |
| title_short | Some politics is local: the determinants of engagement in local and national politics across Europe |
| title_sort | some politics is local the determinants of engagement in local and national politics across europe |
| topic | Political engagement political discussion local politics geographical scale Europe |
| url | https://oaj.fupress.net/index.php/qoe/article/view/9530 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT joaocancela somepoliticsislocalthedeterminantsofengagementinlocalandnationalpoliticsacrosseurope |